Gophers head coach Tubby Smith discusses strategy with Ralph Sampson III during their game against Moorhead at Williams Arena in Minneapolis on Monday November 9, 2009. (Pioneer Press: Richard Marshall)

Every team he has coached — Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky and now the University of Minnesota — has learned about Smith’s experiences with his dad growing up in rural Maryland.

Smith’s father passed away last month before the basketball season. And Smith hasn’t spent Thanksgiving at home since he was a high school coach more than 30 years ago. But he talks vividly about how his family enjoyed the holidays.

“It was about hog-killing time,” said Smith, whose No. 22-ranked Gophers (3-0) play No. 12 Butler (2-0) tonight in the opening round of the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif.

“We had fresh ham hocks. What I always treasured is when we would go hunting, because that was part of the way the pilgrims lived when they first came here. They went hunting with the Native Americans. But it was a tradition where we went rabbit hunting, squirrel hunting or something like that. Even if we didn’t kill anything, it was a good time. It was a fellowship to just be with my dad.”

Guffrie Smith Sr., who raised 17 kids with his wife, Parthenia, while working various jobs in Scotland, Md., died on Oct. 25 because of Alzheimer’s disease. Tubby Smith said his 88-year-old father couldn’t remember him for the past five or six years.

“It was so bad,” he said. “It’s a terrible disease. It’s something that you can never be prepared for.”

But Smith has honored his father by sharing stories about him with his Gophers players, starting when he took over the program in 2007. He hoped that using his father as an example, especially his father’s selflessness and work ethic, would help his players learn life lessons that would be useful when basketball was over.

HONORING HIS FATHER

Smith’s father was a farmer, a barber and a school bus driver for 40 years. He also was a Buffalo Soldier during World War II, and received a Purple Heart. He was an inspiration to Smith, who is trying to pass along that work ethic to his players.

“He’s motivated to help young people. He wants to teach them how to be better young men,” said Saul Smith, Tubby’s middle son and a Gophers assistant coach, about his father. “He talks about responsibility, showing up to work. He talks to them about being a scholarship athlete, and that great players show up to work, not when they feel like it but when they don’t feel like it. He used the example of my grandfather having to work 39 straight years without missing a day so he could provide for his family. I think the older players get it.”

Senior captains Lawrence Westbrook and Damian Johnson understand what Smith expects on and off the court. Westbrook said Smith’s weekly conversations before practice have made an impression on him.

“The best way he can honor his dad is by living the way his dad taught him,” Westbrook said. “He’s just trying to share some of his knowledge with us. It’s a great life lesson, and you can use it on and off the court. It keeps you focused.”

Johnson said Smith told them that waking up for practice didn’t compare to him having to get up at 5:30 a.m. every day to feed the chickens and the hogs on his farm as a kid.

“Coach Smith is a very open coach; he’s never been a coach that will bite his tongue,” Johnson said. “He’ll tell it like it is. He’ll tell you how he feels. Coach Smith is a guy you can relate to. And you can get a lot of wisdom from him.”

‘A LIVING EXAMPLE’

Smith said the best attribute he learned from his father was patience.

The Gophers have had a lot of success with back-to-back 20-win seasons. They reached the NCAA tournament last season for the first time since 2005.

But Smith didn’t get a contract extension because of the struggling economy, according to athletics director Joel Maturi. He also hasn’t received a finish date for a new practice facility. Smith said he is willing to give the Gophers time to develop the basketball program.

Off-court incidents with a few players before this season also have been frustrating to deal with, but Smith hasn’t given up on those players.

“There are things that will come up and situations that you’ll be upset at, but you move on,” he said. “Just like these incidents with our players, you might be upset, but this is why I’m here, so that I can help.”

Freshman Royce White and senior Devron Bostick were suspended indefinitely earlier this month for violating unspecified team rules. White and junior college transfer Trevor Mbakwe also are dealing with legal issues.

“You can bring in all the sports psychologists, you can bring people to talk about different things,” Smith said. “But you have to be a living example for them. I’ve had quite a few kids that I helped turn around. Some I didn’t, but most of them I did. I’m happy for them. I told them they could do it, that we could get them making the right choices and overcoming whatever challenges they had to. It’s not impossible.”

Before the team flew Tuesday to California for the Thanksgiving tournament, Smith gave it a morning lesson about “attitude, gratitude and being thankful.”

“There’s always different lessons,” Smith said. “Sometimes it might be about leadership. Sometimes somebody’s late, so you have to talk about being on time. Whatever is on the docket. Ever since I started coaching you try to do these things. Sometimes that’s what they really need.”

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